Protect College Sports Act stalls as Big Ten, SEC seek final language before Senate recess

The Protect College Sports Act remained unfinished late Wednesday as negotiators from Capitol Hill, the White House and major conferences worked through the night to resolve a stubborn dispute over how outside revenue deals would be treated under the bill's spending caps. The legislation would grant the NCAA and its conferences an antitrust exemption to enforce spending limits, transfer restrictions and eligibility rules that courts have systematically struck down.

The bill's co-authors — Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) — had set a 9 a.m. Wednesday deadline for the Big Ten and SEC to deliver their positions on the legislation. Neither conference met it. Big Ten athletic directors held a meeting in Chicago, the site of the conference's annual media days, that began before and lasted nearly three hours past the deadline. A planned evening call with Big Ten presidents was subsequently canceled.

The central sticking point, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations, is an "associated entities" provision intended to close a loophole that has allowed schools to channel money to athletes through corporate sponsors and multimedia rights partners, effectively circumventing the revenue-share cap. Complicating matters, sources told CBS Sports that the Big Ten and SEC had not yet been presented with the formal text addressing how those deals would be treated under the cap structure tied to the House settlement, making it impossible to formally endorse the bill.

At this point, with every passing minute, odds are slimmer that we can move the bill before the August recess. We've been working night and day to make the revisions they said they needed.

— Senate staff member, per multiple outlets

Congress is scheduled to leave for summer recess on Aug. 7. Many observers believe Senate Majority Leader John Thune must file for cloture by Thursday for a floor vote to remain feasible the following week. Several senators were set to depart Washington on Thursday night, and missing the cloture window would delay any action until after a month-long break widely expected to scramble the bill's political coalition ahead of the midterm season. Despite the uncertainty, one source close to the talks told CBS Sports that the probability of the bill reaching the floor remains high, characterizing the overnight work as clarifying and strengthening existing language rather than a fundamental breakdown.

Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti, who spent much of Wednesday on the phone and spoke with SEC commissioner Greg Sankey at least seven times by 4 p.m., offered a measured assessment of where talks stood. Separately, Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham voiced skepticism about the bill's broader direction, arguing that college football ultimately needs a salary-capped, NFL minor-league model with player employees rather than the framework the Senate legislation would establish. The bill, if enacted, would cap conferences at 19 teams and require schools moving between power leagues to spend five years as independents — provisions Whittingham suggested would impede the structural overhaul he believes the sport requires.